Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister and BJD Supremo Naveen Patnaik today came down heavily on BJP-led NDA Government at the Centre for its failure to fulfill the promises it had made to Odisha five years ago. Addressing the 21st Foundation Day of Biju Janata Dal held at the party headquarter here today, Patnaik targeted the Centre by […]

Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister and BJD Supremo Naveen Patnaik today came down heavily on BJP-led NDA Government at the Centre for its failure to fulfill the promises it had made to Odisha five years ago.

Addressing the 21st Foundation Day of Biju Janata Dal held at the party headquarter here today, Patnaik targeted the Centre by shooting nine questions that are yet to be addressed.

At first, Naveen pointed out the miserable condition of National Highways. He said, “People suffer a lot while travelling on NHs like Sambalpur to Cuttack and Baripada-Deogarh. Besides, the coastal highways are yet to start since four years have passed.”

Patnaik then slammed the Centre over poor mobile connectivity saying that scores of villages in Odisha are yet to get BSNL connection and the telecom service is considerably very poor in rural areas. Besides, the urban areas always face network busy problem.

Raking up the delayed rail projects, the Odisha CM said that though the state government allocated land for Khurda-Bolangir railway line project and sanctioned half of the project cost, the project is yet to see the light.

Patnaik further said that during demonetisation people were forced to go to the banks and stand in long queues. They faced a harrowing time during this period. Besides, many villages in Odisha lack bank facilities. “The Centre has held many meetings and discussion, but people are not able to avail bank services,” he stated.

The BJD supremo said that the Centre had announced Odisha will receive Rs 70,000 crore from auction of coal blocks. However, the State has only received Rs 370 crore in the last three years, he added.

Naveen further ridiculed the Centre’s crop insurance scheme and said, “Farmers are not able to get timely and adequate compensation. It is only the private insurance companies which got benefit from it.”

“The BJP in its 2014 poll manifesto had promised special category status for Odisha, 1.5 times hike in MSP and 33 per cent reservation for women, but nothing has been fulfilled since the last four and half years,” the Odisha CM said.

Patnaik also pointed out that the Centre’s has stopped the funding for the development of tribal areas. Moreover, it has stopped the SC/ST scholarship for poor tribal students for the last two years.

Naveen pointed out the Ujjwala Yojana in his last point and said, “LPG connections were provided to around 30 lakh households under the scheme, but very less turn up for re-filling as the prices were hiked to an extreme extent.”

Apart from the nine points, the Odisha CM said that the coal royalty revision is due since April 2015. Though the decision can be taken within five minutes, it is still pending and in the meantime people of Odisha have lost thousands of crores. Through Clean Energy Cess the Centre received Rs 21,000 crores but Odisha got ‘zero’. By setting up industries in Odisha, minerals were taken away from the State.

Patnaik said, “While Mahanadi Coalfields is earning Rs 20,000 crore profit every year , Odisha receives only pollution. Besides, the Indian Railways is earning Rs 20,000 crores from Odisha, but its expenditure is only 2,000 crores.

Naveen also invoked late Biju Patnaik’s statement and sought fiscal autonomy so that Odisha Government can decide on the financial matters on its own. “I don’t need any special category status. I don’t need any central assistance. Give me financial autonomy”, he asked the Centre.

Later, the CM exhorted the party workers to sensitize the public about various welfare initiatives of the State Government.

New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is all set to issue new Rs 10 notes in a new makeover. The revamped 10 rupee notes will be released under the Mahatma Gandhi series and have chocolate brown colour base, as per reports. The new note will bear the picture of the Konark Sun Temple. […]

New Delhi: Ahead of Gujarat elections, India’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth rate for the second quarter of the current fiscal has brought forth reasons for cheer for the Modi Government, was being criticised by opposition as the country’s GDP had been sliding for the last five quarters after demonetisation. India’s GDP growth rate for […]

New Delhi: Ahead of Gujarat elections, India’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth rate for the second quarter of the current fiscal has brought forth reasons for cheer for the Modi Government, was being criticised by opposition as the country’s GDP had been sliding for the last five quarters after demonetisation.

India’s GDP growth rate for the second quarter (July-September) of the current fiscal stood at 6.3 per cent, government data showed on Thursday.

The previous quarter’s (April- June) growth rate at 5.7 per cent was at a three-year low. The GDP growth for the corresponding quarter last year stood at 7.5 per cent.

The GVA (Gross Value Added) to the economy in the reporting quarter stood at 6.1 per cent, up from 5.6 per cent in the last quarter.

The growth rate was widely expected to bounce back as there were clear signs of the businesses coming out of slowdown caused by demonetisation and the GST rollout.

New Delhi: Cash deposits of Rs 15.39 crore made in a Delhi bank post demonetisation have been held as ‘benami’ property by a special court even as the depositor and the beneficial owner of the stash are “untraceable”. The deposits were declared ‘benami in the ruling in one of the first adjudication cases of the […]

New Delhi: Cash deposits of Rs 15.39 crore made in a Delhi bank post demonetisation have been held as ‘benami’ property by a special court even as the depositor and the beneficial owner of the stash are “untraceable”.

The deposits were declared ‘benami in the ruling in one of the first adjudication cases of the new anti-black money law.

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government had brought into force the new Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act, 2016 from November 1 last year, as part of its multi-pronged strategy to curb illicit wealth.

According to sources, the Income Tax Department, as part of its drive against black funds post the note ban, had conducted a survey at the Kotak Mahindra Bank branch on K G Marg in December last year and found that post demonetisation, deposited Rs 15,93,39,136 cash in old notes of Rs 500 and Rs 100 in the account of three firms, suspected to be fake.

After PM Modi’s declaration of the note ban on November 8 last year, the I-T department had warned people against depositing their unaccounted banknotes in accounts maintained by someone else.

New Delhi: Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday labelled last year’s demonetisation exercise as “organised loot and legalised plunder”. Speaking to small group of businessmen in Gujarat, one year after the note ban was implemented, Singh said that demonetisation and the shoddy implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) had pushed millions of […]

New Delhi: Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday labelled last year’s demonetisation exercise as “organised loot and legalised plunder”.

Speaking to small group of businessmen in Gujarat, one year after the note ban was implemented, Singh said that demonetisation and the shoddy implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) had pushed millions of Indians into terrible hardship, thereby undoing the work of his United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government which he said had pulled 140 million Indians out of poverty.

“The bad implementation of GST only benefited China,” said the former Prime Minister.

He said that even a one percent drop in the GDP caused by the two major initiatives (demonetisation and GST) would be an immense loss for the economy.

Singh said, “Did the prime minister stop to consider the wisdom of the Mahatma (Gandhi) when he asked the Reserve Bank Governor to sign on the dotted line or while implementing the GST in utter haste?”

The former prime minister also questioned PM Modi if he had thought about the impact on those in the informal sector, “whose earnings have dried up because of shortage of cash”.

Singh also took a veiled dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi by comparing with India’s first deputy Prime Minister Sardar Patel.

“Bravado and drama are poor substitutes for courage and conviction to execute well,” Singh added.

New Delhi: Cash deposits worth over Rs 17,000 crore were made and later withdrawn post demonetisation by as many as 35,000 companies, which are now de-registered, the government said on Sunday. As it steps up the fight against illicit fund flows, so far names of around 2.24 lakh companies that have been inactive for long have […]

New Delhi: Cash deposits worth over Rs 17,000 crore were made and later withdrawn post demonetisation by as many as 35,000 companies, which are now de-registered, the government said on Sunday.

As it steps up the fight against illicit fund flows, so far names of around 2.24 lakh companies that have been inactive for long have been struck off from the official records and 3.09 lakh directors have been disqualified.

Around 2.24 lakh companies have been struck off till date for remaining inactive for two years or more, an official release said restrictions have been imposed on the operation of their bank accounts as well as on sale and transfer of their properties.

“Preliminary enquiry on the basis of information received from 56 banks in respect of 35,000 companies involving 58,000 accounts has revealed that an amount of over Rs 17,000 crore was deposited and withdrawn post demonetisation,” the release said.

In one case, a company which had a negative opening balance on November 8, 2016, deposited and withdrew Rs 2,484 crore post demonetisation, it added.

Last November, the government cancelled old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes as legal tenders as part of larger efforts to fight the black money problem and corruption.

According to the government, one company was having as many as 2,134 accounts.

The information regarding such firms has been shared with enforcement authorities for further action.

The Prime Minister’s Office has also constituted a Special Task Force under the joint chairmanship of revenue secretary and corporate affairs secretary to oversee the drive against such defaulting companies. The task force has met five times so far, the release said.

Jambusar: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi today came down heavily on BJP and said Demonetisation and GST have ruined the ease of doing business, seizing on a World Bank report that India had jumped 30 places on the ‘ease of doing business’ ranking. The entire country will shout to say that there is no ease […]

Jambusar: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi today came down heavily on BJP and said Demonetisation and GST have ruined the ease of doing business, seizing on a World Bank report that India had jumped 30 places on the ‘ease of doing business’ ranking.

The entire country will shout to say that there is no ease of doing business in India,” the Gandhi scion added.

Addressing a rally at Jambusar town of Bharuch district in Gujarat, where assembly elections are scheduled next month, Mr. Gandhi said at a public rally, “Yesterday, Arun Jaitley ji said some foreign organisation has certified that India has considerably improved in ease of doing business.”

Mr. Jaitley, he said, sits in his office and believes what foreigners say. The finance minister, Mr. Gandhi added, should meet small and mid-sized businessman for five-10 minutes and ask if the ease of doing business had really improved.

“The entire country will shout and say ease of doing business is absent, you have destroyed it, your demonetisation and GST have ruined it,” Mr. Gandhi said.

Earlier in the day, Mr. Gandhi had tweeted in Hindi, taking off from a famous Ghalib verse to say that Mr. Jaitley was deluding himself.

According to the World Bank, India’s rank on ‘ease of doing business’ scale has risen from 130 to 100 this year, helped by a slew of reforms in taxation, licensing, investor protection and bankruptcy resolution.

Addressing a press conference soon after the World Bank ranking was made public yesterday, Mr. Jaitley had said India is the only major country named for pursuing structural reforms.

“In 2014, we were 142nd and then (in) last two years, we improved to 131st and 130th. These are not generalised rankings. It happened in specific areas and they take tough parameters for that ranking,” he had said.

The “highest jump” in ranking was possible as significant improvements in all the 10 judging parameters were made in last three-four years “so that it becomes easy to do business in India”, Mr. Jaitley said.

New Delhi: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Monday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of tanking the country’s economy by deploying two torpedoes — GST and demonetisation. Speaking to reporters outside the Congress headquarters in New Delhi, Rahul Gandhi said while the economy was able to withstand the “torpedo” of note ban, it could not […]

Speaking to reporters outside the Congress headquarters in New Delhi, Rahul Gandhi said while the economy was able to withstand the “torpedo” of note ban, it could not withstand the one of GST. The economy, he said, “was in tatters now”.

“The prime minister is not able to understand the feeling of the people and the hurt and sadness these two decisions have caused,” he said.

Terming demonetisation as a big setback, Rahul Gandhi said November 8 was a “sad day” for the country. “They are celebrating November 8, but they need to understand the trouble they caused to the common man…Note ban was like a torpedo,” he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced on November 8 last year that notes of higher denomination had been scrapped. The Congress is planning nationwide protests on November 8, which is being observed as ‘Black Day’ by other Opposition parties as well.

Earlier in the day, Rahul Gandhi chaired a three-hour long meeting with party general secretaries and state in-charges to chalk out plans for the first anniversary of demonetisation. A separate meeting on GST was also attended by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Rahul Gandhi said the party discussed the negative impact caused by demonetisation and GST on the economy. On GST, Rahul Gandhi said it was a good idea that was rushed in and destroyed by the government.

New Delhi: Nearly a year after PM Modi announced demonetisation, the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 bills returned to banks are still being “processed in all earnest” through a sophisticated currency verification system, the RBI has said. In reply to an RTI query, the central bank said it has processed about 1,134 crore pieces of Rs 500 notes […]

New Delhi: Nearly a year after PM Modi announced demonetisation, the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 bills returned to banks are still being “processed in all earnest” through a sophisticated currency verification system, the RBI has said.

In reply to an RTI query, the central bank said it has processed about 1,134 crore pieces of Rs 500 notes and 524.90 crore pieces of Rs 1,000 junked notes, having face value of Rs 5.67 lakh crore and Rs 5.24 lakh crore respectively, as on September 30.

The combined value of the processed notes is Rs 10.91 lakh crore approximately, according to the reply.

The central bank was asked to provide details of demonetised notes counted so far.

The RBI said at least 66 Sophisticated Currency Verification and Processing (CVPS) machines were being used for counting of junked Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes that were deposited with various banks post demonetisation.

The government had on November 8 last year banned the use of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes and allowed the holders of these currency bills to deposit them with banks or use them at certain notified utilities.

In its annual report for 2016-17 released on August 30, the RBI had said Rs 15.28 lakh crore, or 99 percent of the demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, have returned to the banking system.

New Delhi: Despite the effects of demonetisation and industry slowdown, the wealth of India’s 100 richest persons rose by 26 per cent and Reliance Industries chief Mukesh Ambani topped the list with his net worth swelled to $38 billion nearly 2.5 lakh crore. He has emerged as India’s wealthiest person for the tenth straight year. […]

The magazine wrote that “economic experiments” of Narendra Modi’s government barely affected India’s billionaires.

Oil-and-gas tycoon Mukesh Ambani gained the highest by upholding his decade-long hold on the top slot by adding a staggering $15.3 billion (67 per cent) to his last year’s wealth. He also becomes one of Asia’s top five richest.

Gautam Adani’s net worth rose from $6.3 billion and he moved up to 10th position ($11 billion), from 13th rank last year.

Patanjali Ayurved’s Acharya Balkrishna, made a big jump from 48th place last year to 19th this year, with a net worth of $6.55 billion (about ₹43,000 crore).